I know it’s not a new problem, but I don’t know what I can or should do…
I’m made a design that I shared for free on thingiverse under a Creative commons, attributions, non-commercial license.
I’ve been made aware today that two etsy sellers are using my design, they didn’t ask me and they don’t attribute me. I don’t particularly mind that people print and sell my design (I understand the added value of it already being printed for the user) , but I feel it is unfair to buyers to not be made aware that the design is free and they could easily get it printed cheaper elsewhere (design is small, it’s like half a dollar worth of plastic).
It would also have been nice to send me a share of the profit made from my design…
What can I do or should I do ?
To be fair, Etsy’s automated systems will take down listings without vetting the takedown claim, as long as the fields in said claim are filled out with non-blatantly false info. There’s little to no fact-checking on the backend and fraudulent takedowns are a known method by scammers to get competing (legit?) shops discredited.
On one hand, yes, use the DMCA takedown request form. On the other, fuck Etsy sideways with a busted rake.
The DMCA safe-harbor provision requires them to act on takedown claims with little-to-no vetting. In contrast, counter-claims are made under penalty of perjury. It’s a deliberately unfair system that puts the person who wants to censor the content at a huge advantage over the person who wants to keep using it.
The simple fact that entire legit shops are destroyed by this “provision” without any consequences for the platform, much less the fraudsters, is my main gripe with the state of ecommerce currently. Etsy is a festering pucker of a “marketplace” to begin with (originally invented to showcase handmade crafts, but somehow has never offered a made-to-order inventory system, is notorious for auto-refunds in full to the point of supporting scammers’ various antics, and skews search results visibility to leverage paid placement despite claiming the exact opposite, etc.), but every single one of those pus-munchers that exploit the criminally lazy SoP of that “marketplace” deserves a n2 pencil to the carotid. 🤷🏼♂️
Yeah it sure would be nice to have these companies do some vetting. Unfortunately that would cost them money, so we cannot be doing something like that.
Bunchacunts.